Halloween Treats

Our kitchen has been busy lately.

Making goodies!

The week before Halloween was spent making yummy, kid-friendly treats for the kiddos and their teachers.

Today, I'll tell you how to make your own caramel corn.

It was incredibly easy.

The recipe is off of Annie's Eats.

Remember?  She's the one who claims to be a doctor (but has incredible amounts of time on her hands), mother to one child (HA!  That ain't nuttin') and loves to bake and entertain.

So this mixture here is basically brown sugar and butter.

(Please check her website for the exact recipe though)

The trick here is that you let is boil like this for five full minutes.

And you don't stir.

Which is hard to tell four little boys who love to stir things.

So after that, you pour it onto popped popcorn.

Now you could probably use microwave popcorn.

But I personally think microwave popcorn tastes horrid.

So, I popped some in our little popcorn popper (with the dome on top and that little thingy that spins around).

Okay, so pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and stir it up to coat evenly.

Pour it out onto the baking sheets and bake it for about 40 minutes at a low heat, stirring a few times.

Let it cool completely.

Break if apart and eat.

And eat.

And eat.

It was amazingly good.

Why on earth do I buy the stuff?

Unless my caramel corn comes from Topsy's, Velvet Creme or Custard's Last Stand (or that heavenly place in Chicago I blogged about last February), I'll just make my own.

I managed to scavenge enough to make some goodie bags for teachers.

Just put a little in these cute treat bags with a few candy corn and viola!

We also made BOOscotti!

This was also incredibly easy!

Have you ever made cookies from a boxed cake mix?

You do basically the same thing but add more flour.

(I also added mini chocolate chips)

Shape the batter into one big loaf, about 14 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Bake it and then slice it, then bake it again.

Once completely cooled, dip into white chocolate and use mini chocolate chips for the eyes.

These really turned out cute!